S9B Strange HR and HR-Zones behavior

Hi everyone, I couldn’t find anything related to this, so I’ve decided to ask. I have a S9 Baro watch and have following issues:

Problem # 1:
I have default HR zones set on my watch, nothing custom, and I’m using a Suunto HR belt while running (because ohr on the watch is very inaccurate). I never had any issues with the HR measures using the belt + watch, however since a few weeks it behaves (most of the time) like this:

This is from 12.4.2022. As you can see the HR jumps to the max in the beginning, even though I’m only standing and doing nothing. Either it catches up and jumps to normal after a longer time, or I have to cancel and start the activity multiple times. Sometimes my HR is 180 while I’m doing nothing. Yes, I’m washing the belt, etc, etc. Is it perhaps worn out?

Problem #2:
This is quite new, I’ve started to experience this issue a few days ago. As you can see in the picture, there’s no “z2” or “z3” visible on the graph, even though the HR was clearly “in these zones”. The first picture above (Problem #1) shows how it’s supposed to look. I can also see the HR stuck in “z4” on the watch while running. This is from today morning:

Any idea what this might cause? Many thanks in advance and sorry if this has been already discussed!

freeheeler

@tomasbartko
your observations sound familiar… when did you last change the battery on the HR chest strap?
Mine lasts typically around 1 year. I’ve had HR spikes like you did and normally when I change the battery everything is back to normal.
This time it was slightly better after the battery change but some weird behavior remained. I then exchanged the strap as well.
And lately I purchased an optical arm sensor (polar verity sense) and I am very happy with it so far. I have to figure out what to do when wearing elbow protection when mountain biking though…

your second issue looks strange. I once saw the dial indicator being stuck, too… but honestly did not check wether it matched the graph in SA later.
first thing I would try is to do the 12s upper button soft reset and check if it happens again.
maybe it is even an issue also related to the behavior of the chest strap (?).

please keep us updated. maybe other users have more or different inputs

Brad_Olwin

@tomasbartko When you start an exercise do you wet the strap? I completely soak mine in running water where the electrodes are, then start exercising prior to the strap getting dry.

The first issue looks as if it may take time for the strap to get wet enough from sweat to read correctly.

Or, as @freeheeler said you may need a new battery. Do you have the old belt with black or grey where the sensor snaps in? The old ones fail.

Egika

Did anyone notice, that the color bars don’t even match the horizontal lines?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@egika android or iOS ?

Egika

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos said in S9B Strange HR and HR-Zones behavior:

@egika android or iOS ?

Don’t know. Just Screenshot from above

Thanks for the suggestions. I made some new observations.

@freeheeler The battery is not old, I’ve changed it recently. But I’ll swap it again (just need to get one) to rule that out. Problem #2 seem not be related to the strap. I’ve started a workout WITHOUT the strap today and the HR was immediately “locked” into Zone 4 and even though I was standing and doing nothing, the HR was quite high (above 100 - but definitely NOT in Z4). It slowly decreased to 60. Strange behavior.

@Brad_Olwin Yes yes, I soak it under running water, or when I’m moving to a location with a car, I even have a bottle with water for this purpose

@Egika Indeed, it doesn’t mach anything it just “locks” into that specific zone on the watch and that’s it. As described above, it doesn’t seem to be related to the HR strap, because I’ve started a weight training today without the strap and it immediately locked into the Z4 (orange horizontal line) on the watch itself.

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos iOS 15.5, but it’s happening on the watch itself. I assume it’s not related to the OS. The watch has the latest available update. Maybe a soft reset?

EDIT: Happened just 2 minutes ago. Locked in Z4, no HR strap.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@tomasbartko for the picture I see with the lock, is it belt or ohr. It won’t move if it doesn’t have HR data

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos Nope, no HR belt, just OHR.

But I went for a run just now - with the HR belt:

Also the GPS was a bit weird today, because I’ve definitely started where I ended. Not as shown in the picture.

And one more:

inkognito

@tomasbartko So, have you tried the soft reset already?

freeheeler

@tomasbartko
I’ve only had an incomplete track once. I’ve started running with an almost empty battery.
let’s collect more info. I don’t think your watch is broken. A soft reset would be the first thing to try. If this doesn’t help, maybe installing the latest firmware again could be a solution?

@inkognito Yes sir, did that before I went out and, as you can see, it didn’t help. I’ll try a hard reset.

@freeheeler Very interesting. I have 65% of battery left now, so that might not be the issue, I hope. I think the latest firmware “broke” the software on the watch in the first place. I’ll try a hard reset, reinstall the firmware and report back.

isazi

@tomasbartko said in S9B Strange HR and HR-Zones behavior:

@inkognito Yes sir, did that before I went out and, as you can see, it didn’t help. I’ll try a hard reset.

Less than 15 minutes before starting the activity? Then you started without AGPS, may explain the missing part, there was no GPS lock.

@freeheeler Very interesting. I have 65% of battery left now, so that might not be the issue, I hope. I think the latest firmware “broke” the software on the watch in the first place. I’ll try a hard reset, reinstall the firmware and report back.

Well, if this affects only you it’s more probably a watch issue, and not a software one, as there’s thousands of people with this version.

freeheeler

@isazi said in S9B Strange HR and HR-Zones behavior:

may explain the missing part

sorry… I missed recognizing that the start was missing, not the end.

freeheeler

@tomasbartko
you might want to do some tests with watch integrated OHR and even a HR strap from a friend, before you do a hard reset and investigate further

@freeheeler said in S9B Strange HR and HR-Zones behavior:

@tomasbartko
you might want to do some tests with watch integrated OHR and even a HR strap from a friend, before you do a hard reset and investigate further

I forgot to mention that I have used a custom Trail running sports mode. Tried also the default ones and a different HR strap, tried OHR. This is from this morning, for example:

I think it’s pointless. I’m going to try factory reset now, although I have mixed feelings about that.

freeheeler

@tomasbartko
I have in memory that it takes some time before the zones are adjusted correctly. what do you see when you look into your older activities that were faulty back then? do they still look the same?

@freeheeler Yes, unfortunately they all look the same. No change at all.

freeheeler

@tomasbartko

Brad_Olwin

@tomasbartko Before you do the reset, do you have both default zones and sport-specific zones set up in the watch? And, are they different?